Chapter 15:

Getting the Gameplay Working

Baki Can Öztepe

Hollywood movies vs Video Games•The largest unknown is “Where is the money coming from?”•Not “How will we ever make this film?” •Hollywood has an efficient system for creating films. •Hollywood is making a predictable product. •The development of a game design is a chaotic and unpredictable process •Problems not even the most experienced producer, designer, or programmer can foresee.

VS

Hollywood movies vs Video Games•shifting technology targets,• where programmers must learn about new consoles, •operating systems, •and 3D accelerator cards for each project•cutting-edge graphics engine•a truly original game is far more unique compared to other contemporary games than a movie is to other films

Civilization, The Sims, or Doom. The gameplay contained in these games was radically different from anything that came before them.

Video Games•Many games are far less experimental and innovative

• games that have followed more of a formula have had a much better success rate in terms of coming out on time and on budget.

•Though including new content consisting of new stories and graphics, offer gameplay very much the same as the previous year’s offerings(racing games)

•When a game tries to implement a new form of gameplay, all hope of predictability is gone.

Prototyping & Experimentation•Designers do not have crystal balls. •They have an improved chance of anticipating what will make for compelling gameplay. They do not truly “know” more than anyone else.

•The closest thing game development has to a reliable system for developing an original game is to get some small part of the gameplay working first, before moving ahead to build the rest of the game. A prototype is crucial.

This demo should be something any member of the development team can pick up, play, and say, “Yes, this is fun, I want to play this.”

Should prototypes be shown to public and their opinion should be considered. Kickstarter anyone?

Unsuccessful prototypes -> redirect in a more promising direction or, in the worst cases, aborted entirely.

Organic?•Try not to plan anything out beyond what is necessary at that stage in development. (opposite of the approach many development studios prefer)•A more organic process leaves room and time to experiment•Get some portion of the game to be fun before I start adding detail and length to the game.

•Adding too much content is very wasteful

•Excessive detail: elaborate design document, a script for the game’s dialog, detailed maps of the various areas players will explore, or even fully built levels for the game

“Waterfall is dead, long live agile!” Markus Persson(creator of Minecraft )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0eqSgkDuW0

AgileAccording to Kent Beck, the Agile Manifesto is based on twelve principles:•Customer satisfaction by rapid delivery of useful software•Welcome changing requirements, even late in development•Working software is delivered frequently (weeks rather than months)•Working software is the principal measure of progress•Sustainable development, able to maintain a constant pace•Close, daily cooperation between business people and developers•Face-to-face conversation is the best form of communication (co-location)•Projects are built around motivated individuals, who should be trusted•Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design•Simplicity—the art of maximizing the amount of work not done—is essential•Self-organizing teams•Regular adaptation to changing circumstances

Without a prototype there will be assumptions about

how the gameplay will function,

Assumptions that may turn out to be incorrect once the gameplay is actually functional

concentrate first on getting all of the gameplay working

Focus on making the gameplay fun before making a large number of levels, -> avoid a lot of extra work and waste effort.

Stick to the initial design completely -> the entire game suffers and the end product would be not so fun.

Nothing proves to the financiers that your game is moving in the right direction better than a compelling prototype.

Building the Game •The best way to build your game is incrementally.

•Complete one system before moving on to the next

•Basic and essential systems first, and then build the systems that depend on that system.

•Programmers often enjoy working on their own isolated part of the code without fully considering how it will have to interface with the rest of the project. ( These programmers only want their paychecks, not a headache )

•Constantly focus on the big picture of making the game playable and fun.

Game Engine.•Make sure that this underlying technology functions at a certain level before any work can be done on the gameplay•If the technology is simply not ready, start off prototyping the game using technology from a previous project.•It is rare that technology will actually make or break a game design though it may make or break the game itself.

Source engine

Quake engine

Gamebryo

Infinity Engine

Unity

Unreal Engine

Infinity EngineBaldur's Gate (1998)

Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast (1999)

Planescape: Torment (1999)

Icewind Dale (2000)

Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter (2001)

Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter: Trials of the Luremaster (2001)

Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (2000)

Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal (2001)

Konung: Legends of the North (2000)

Icewind Dale II (2002)

Konung 2: Blood of Titans (2004)

Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition (2012)

Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition (TBA)

Unity3D•Used to develop video games for web plugins, desktop platforms, consoles and mobile devices, and is utilized by over one million developers.

•Unity is primarily used to create mobile and web games, but can also deploy games to consoles or the PC.

Incremental Steps •Try to break down the game design into the most fundamental tasks that need to be accomplished•Throughout the project’s development it is important to always keep a version-of your game playable.•A Fully Functional Area (one particular level of the game.)•Get one level as close to a final state As possible before moving on to the creation of other levels.•Early parts of the game need to be at the highest level of quality possible•Difficulty(can be adjusted and tweaked later in the development process)

•Fundamental difficulty

Going Through Changes •Being able to throw away your own work and, potentially, that of the rest of your team.

•Destroy, Erase, Improve

•Art, code, levels, and even general design itself

•Change as gameplay evolves

•Many developers are unwilling to do this, and it shows in their games.

•admitting that you have a problem

•First impressions are very important, especially in game design

Programming •A designer/programmer are able to have an idea for some gameplay and then can instantly attempt to implement it exactly how they want it

•A designer who does not program is forced to first communicate her idea for the gameplay to the programmer

•Often the communication will break down

•There must be a constant circle of feedback between the designer and the programmer.

•The programmer assigned to set up some functionality curses the designer(practically impossible task )

•Programmer spends a lot of time on a challenging implementation.(simpler one would have satisfied the designer )

Programming •Another problem arises when the designer and programmer have different ideas of what the gameplay for the project should be.

•Programmer can simply not implement what the designer has requested.

•It is worth learning to program if you want to be a designer.

•Learning how to program will help teach you how to think logically and abstractly

•modern projects and fifty-person development teams, it is often difficult to be both a designer and a programmer

•have a lead programmer with a good sense of gameplay

When Is It Fun? •No book can ever explain what is fun about a game.•A designer who is not actively working on the game during that period can truly be considered to have designed it.•Lead programmer is probably the one who is actually designing the game.

Game developers do their best work when working on games they

care about and enjoy. The excellent Grim Fandango appears

to be a perfect example.

•it is very hard to design a good game that you yourself do not enjoy playing.